The Noble Devil
by 8th Element
Summary: Ryner and Ferris have been trying to stop Sion from taking over the world, and along the way they meet a young countess with her best friend Ari who are on their was to a three day gala where the king will be making an appearance. But does Ryner know more about the two girls then he is willing to let on?
1. Chapter 1

**The Noble Devil**

**Chapter One**

_Clang, clang. _The sound of metal clashing against metal rang through the darkness of the forest. Ryner and Ferris ran quickly and as quietly as humanly possible towards the sounds, hoping that it was nothing important. They were, of course, wrong.

Men with black cloaks covering their faces, stood in front of a young girl who looked to be about nineteen, with blond hair in a high ponytail, her green eyes shone emerald in the darkness of dusk, and the black clothes that she was in made her almost invisible. The blond was berthing hard, with a knife in her hands, dripping with blood. Even though the girl looked as though she was rather tired, she ran up to the men, knife in hand, and ready to strike.

She took one down with a swipe of her blade that was almost too fast for Ryner's eyes to see, but the others got the girl with their weapons, sending her flying into a near-by tree. Lighting flashed from a storm not very far from where Ryner and Ferris where hiding, letting a carriage be seen from the darkness. Out of it came a girl in a red dress, with brown hair and eyes. This girl looked around twenty years old, and when the lighting flashed again Ryner got a good look at her face, and his eyes widened.

"Ari!" The dark haired girl screamed, putting truth to Ryner's thoughts. Ferris was about to go and help the pair, but Ryner just held her back. She looked at him, and he shook his head, but stayed where he was continuing to watch. The action puzzled his blond friend, but she spoke nothing of it. The older of the two ran to the blond, her back to the pair in the shadows.

"Ari, are you alright? Can you hear me? Ari?!" The one in the dress asked.

"You…..have to….run my lady. Run….as fast….as you….can." The one named Ari said her voice weak.

"I'm not going without you!"

"You…..must."

"Sorry to say this, but your blond attack dog is right. She would just slow you down countess." One of now ten men in dark cloaks said to dark hair. She stood, and lighting flashed again, showing half of her face that was full of anger.

"She is not my attack dog, she is my _friend_." Her face was completely focused on the men in front of her, "What I seek is the thundering storm, MENOCHE!" Giant blue blots of lighting hit the men in front of her, frying them into little pieces of ash. Not even the bones were spared from the flames that flew down from the sky. The storm that was now overhead disappeared letting the moon shine on Ari's face that was full of shock, and worry.

"C-c-countess?" Ari asked. The other girl looked at her, rushing over to Ari's side. With what little light the countess had, she healed Ari's head.

"I will be able to do a better job tomorrow, when I have better light to work with. Just stay still and don't move your head, please." Worry filled the young girl's voice, and Ryner was sure that it could show on her face as well. It was just something that would never change about her. Ryner was the first one to stand, and Ferris soon followed him over the unwitting pair.

When the young countess stood and turned at the sound of their footsteps, it eyes went right to Ryner's, and something shone in them that to Ferris looked like shock. She took a step towards the pair, and right into the light of the moon, giving Ferris a good look straight at the countess' face. Ferris stopped where she stood, for the young girl was the spitting image of the swords master, _always_ napping friend.

"Countess Seaira" Ryner said with a short bow and a slight kiss on the young girl's hand. That threw Ferris off guard, and she felt something that she never had before. It was like a pit in her gut, and it told her that she loathed this countess (whatever her name was), to an extreme extent.

"Ryner Lute. Now to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you again?" Seaira smiled at him, and Ferris now understood why Ryner had acted the way he did, they knew each other.

"Now I see why you did want me to help these poor girls, Ryner. You didn't want them to see the man who had taken advantage of them." Ferris said, Ryner turned to her, and was about to start screaming at the blond knight about how he wasn't a pervert, but Seaira spoke up before he could.

"Please Ferris dear, if Ryner where anything like that, he would be dead right now." Seaira said this with a monotone voice, calm face, and she stared Ferris dead in the eyes, telling the sword master that the countess wasn't lying. Ryner smiled at Seaira, and then remembered that he hadn't introduced Seaira to Ferris.

"Right, Ferris I would like to introduce Countess Seaira Rahime, Seaira this is Ferris Eris, my….friend I guess you could say." Ryner stumbled on the last few words, for he really didn't have a name the suited Ferris.

"The name Seaira is not familiar to me, nor is the house of Rahime." Ferris said.

"That's because there is no house of Rahime. It was an offer made by the last queen of Roland, for me to become a noble, have my own house, and what not. I respectively declined the offer. I didn't want to be a part of the deadly politics of the Roland nation, nor the fact that it was all run by men at the time and still to this day, but she instead that I keep the title, so here I am with a title and no power." Seaira explained to the blond. By this time the other blond girl had started to get up, and when she turned to go to Seaira's side, her heart stopped.

"So, Seaira what brings you two all the way out here?" Ryner asked not knowing that Ari was up and staring at his face.

"Well, actually we were just on our way to-" Seaira was cut off by Ari flying into Ryner's arms, wrapping hers around his neck, and crashing her lips into his. This toppled the pair over, and while Ari was fighting as hard as she could to keep the kiss going, Ryner pushed her off rather fast. The young girl tried to back on him, but Seaira picked her up by the collar of her shirt, and dragged her a few paces back. Ari tried as hard as she could to get free of Seaira, but the countess wouldn't let her go.

"Seaira" Ari wined, "I haven't seen him in so long."

"And you can wait five more minutes while you get a fire going, water the horses, and set up the tents." Seaira said, sending a chill down Ari spine. When Seaira let go of her, Ari did as she was told, but with a grim look to her. The girl started mumbling under her berth, "I heard that." Seaira called over to the girl, and she just stopped talking all together. Ryner stood up, and as soon as Ari couldn't see him, he started to spit.

"Come on, it couldn't have been that bad, could it?" Seaira laughed at Ryner, who had now started to scape his tough.

"You didn't have to kiss her." Ryner shivered Seaira let out a little giggle before turning back to Ferris.

"Anyway, as I was say before I was so rudely interrupted," Seaira said this so that Ari could hear, "Ari and me are on our way to the three day gala that the king is throwing. He's going to be there on the third day, but you have to come on the first or I wouldn't be here right now."

"So you wish to see the king?" Ryner asked.

"Yes, I plan on it really. I want to ask the king himself why he had such a change of heart." Seaira said that again with a monotone voice, giving away the fact she didn't really just want to talk. "Now if I may ask you the same question Ryner, what are you doing out here, when your life was taken?" Seaira asked with a joking tone.

"The same reason you are. To kill the man who put me in a grave." Ryner said with the same voice as the countess. Seaira laughed, with him just as Ari called over for dinner. Ferris looked at Ryner, who was backing up, then dragged him by the collar and sat him down. Of course as soon as she did this Ari was right next to him, her head on his shoulder, and her arms wrapped tight around his neck. A smile was playing on Ari's lips, and she kissed him again on the cheek. Seaira sighed, and walked over to the fire, filling a small bowl with the soup that Ari had made for the group. Seaira then stood back up, and walked to the carriage.

"Countess, will you not dine with us?" Ferris asked.

"I would, but I know it's best not to be around Ari when she has Ryner by the neck." Seaira smile a little, but Ari let go and turned away from Ryner. Then Seaira came to sit down, and she sat right in between Ari and Ryner, giving Ryner some berthing room. Ari glared at Seaira, and sat down next to Ferris. Seaira smiled at the young girl who glared at her in response, and Ryner laughed at the two.

"So Ari when did you get so good with a blade?" he asked her, filling up his bowl. He had a spoon full, "And such a great cook?"

"You like it?" Ryner nodded, and started to drink from the bowl, "I'm so happy. As for your other question, Seaira taught me." Ryner looked at Seaira, who was eating.

"Magic isn't the only way I know how to defend myself, Ryner. It's just….well you know me and blood." Seaira was finishing off her soup and Ryner just looked away, the look of sadness in his eyes. The pair both put their bowls down at the same time, Ryner's on top of hers. In the fire light it, was hard for both Ferris and Ari to tell the difference between each other, but the dress helped.

"So Ryner," Seaira said, breaking the silence, "How have you been doing on those tests that your always taking?" She asked him.

"Fine. I just failed once, and another time it got really close, but I handled it." Ryner said, making Ferris rather puzzled. In all the time that she has known him, she had never seen Ryner take any kind of test. Ari saw her face, and tapped her on the shoulder.

"They're talking in code." Ari said, as a really loud whisper.

"We are not talking in code, Ari!" Ryner yelled at her.

"Oh really? Then what are these tests that you keep talking about? I mean ever since I've known you two, you are always talking about tests that Ryner takes, but I've never seen him do it." Ari had pulled out her knife to sharpen it, but started pointing it at Seaira instead. It was a dumb move on Ari's part, but Seaira didn't mind. Anyone who knew Ari knew that she didn't mean anything by it, she just wanted to make a point.

"Ari put that a way if you aren't going use it, please." Ryner said, just making everyone a bit more conferrable. Ari put the knife a way, but still kept her hand on it, in chase that she might need to use the blade. After that Seaira thought it a good idea that they all get some sleep. Ari offered to take first watch, and Ferris thought it a good idea that she keep an eye on the love crazed blond, so she stayed up to.

For a long time it was silent around, but for the sound of the fire cracking, and the steady berthing of the two blond girls friends. Ari finally got around to sharpening her blade, and that added to sounds that weren't talking. The faint light of the fire, and the moon light made Ari look rather like she was ready to kill someone. Ferris would have feared the girl, if not for that fact that she had seen much worse.

"So have long have you know Ryner?" Ferris asked breaking the silence. Ari looked at her, and Ferris saw that the girl's eyes really were emerald, it wasn't just a trick of the light when she first saw the girl.

"I've lost count of all the years, but I've known them since they we were all children. And in all that time Ryner has stayed at arm's length from me, but Seaira is a different story. If something ever happened, she would be the person he would turn to. It was like Seaira was the only thing in the whole world that Ryner trusted, not even Kuway, Seaira's step-mother, could get him to talk. But it did always seem that the three of them were in on something that I wasn't." Ari said. Sadness filled her eyes when she was talking about this. That's when Ferris found out that Ari didn't know about Ryner's alpha stigma, but if they were as good of friends as Ari claimed, why hadn't Ari seen her lose control, or why hadn't Seaira told her.

"I've noticed that about Ryner, he never really dose want to talk, just sleep. But why would Seaira be any different, I mean they don't love each other do they?" Ferris asked, because she just had to know.

"Only in a sibling kind of way, which is why they're both so damn annoying? When you look at them you think they're twins, but they say that they're not related at all. I know that's a lie, but I keep my mouth shut. Not even Kuway will talk about it, and that was a shocker to everyone." Ari said.

"And why is that?" Ferris looked at the girl.

"Kuway is not one to not tell you something, unlike Seaira who wouldn't tell you something, unless your life depended on it, but that rarely happens. It was hard the first couple of years before I really knew them, but after a while you get used to it." Ari said, and it was apparent to Ferris that the young girl truly did care for both Ryner and Seaira even with all their flaws.

After that the girls talked about allot of things, and when the topic of Ryner's perversion came up, Ari was quick to defend him. Ferris soon found that Ari was much like a certain Captain Milk, in the way that she was madly in love with Ryner, thinking that one day they were going to get married and have kids. It was around midnight when Seaira started to wake up.

"You guys get some sleep. Ryner and I can take it from here." Seaira told the girls. Ari didn't want to go to sleep, but Seaira told her that she needed to rest her head, and that was the end of that. Once Seaira was sure that both of them were asleep, she woke Ryner. For some time they just sat in the silence of the night, and that's when Seaira saw him watching Ferris sleep.

"Ryner" Seaira whispered nodding towards the forest, just out of ear shot of the sleeping blonds. They both stood walking over to the spot where Seaira had nodded towards, but even though the other two couldn't hear them when they talked normal, Seaira and Ryner still kept their voices down.

"Ferris knows doesn't she?" When the question was asked both knew what it meant.

"Yeah, she found out when we started to explore the other nations for hero relics. I believe that Sion told her even before we started out, and then when I lost it she helped me come to." Ryner explained to the countess. "I can't believe Ari still doesn't know about it though, I mean I thought you would have told her."

"No, I still think it best that she doesn't know about your eyes quiet yet. If she knew, I don't think that she would be torn between her hatred, and her love for you."

"You call that love? Love is when you don't attack people, love is when you know what not to do when someone is in a bad mood, love-" He was cut off by Seaira's hand.

"I get it, no need to explain any further. But speaking of love, what are your feelings for the Eris girl?" Seaira asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I see the way you look at her, and even though you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you watching her while she slept. I just want to know what you think of the girl that's all."

"I think that she's a good friend, and a caring person. Ferris has seen a lot of pain in her time and all that it's done to her is making her the strong person that she is today." Ryner said, with his head in the air.

"You know that one day I'm not going to be there to help you with this, and you're going to need someone else to do it for me. I don't care what you say right now, but tell me when you have an answer." Seaira told him this, and walked back to the camp site, just as the first light came up from the sun. The angle that the light hit her, made the countess, in her blood red dress, and black gloves, look like a noble devil.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Noble Devil**

**Chapter Two**

Seaira's POV

I woke the others, readying them for the rest of the journey to the gala on the Nelfan border. Sion promised that by the end of the party we would be in complete control of Imperial Nelfa. I couldn't believe what the damned bastard was doing. After all this time, and all of his hard work, he snapped and was going to kill when he used to strongly believe in no blood shed. I guess that the Dark Knight finally got a hold of him. And if that was true then we were all dead.

After we had gotten everything into the carriage, Ari took her seat in the rains, and started along the road. I just wanted to get this whole thing over with. It was going to be hard to get to see the king alone, but I would have to try. He needed the sense beaten back into him, and I was going to…help him with that in whatever way I could. So I just looked out the window hoping that it wasn't going to be too hard.

"What are you thinking about Countess?" Ferris asked me.

"Just thinking what I'm going to ware to the dance tonight. And if I will be taking anyone." I said to her. It wasn't a total lie of course, but I wasn't going to tell her that I was planning on killing the king, but only if it came to that of course.

"One more thing Countess. When we first met you knew who I was, how is that?" Ferris asked me another question.

"You look so much like your brother it wasn't all that hard to figure out." I smiled at her.

"You know my brother?" The young swords master looked puzzled.

"Why yes of course. He is a very strange man that one, but he seemed nice enough. Also that sword you carry has been passed down from generation to generation in the Eris family, so again it wasn't that hard to know who you were." Again I smiled at the girl.

"You seem to know your weapons, Countess." Ferris didn't smile back at me, and I wondered why she didn't seem to like all that much. It might be the fact that I was so close to Ryner, but there was no way that Ryner and me were in love. I could promise everyone in the damned thing that we were riding in that we had no plans on any kind of relationship other than being really good friends. I swear on every last one of the magic eyes that I'm not lying.

"Only the magic one's Ferris, only the magic ones." I said under my breath making Ryner laugh. Ferris looked between us, and I could almost smell the confusion coming off of her.

"Don't worry about it Ferris, they always do that. It does get really annoying though." Ari said from the front.

"Keep driving Ari." Ryner said.

"We have to feed the horses. And I think that we should eat something too." Ari said

"I could tell that from the sound of your stomach." I said and it almost gave me a head bump she stopped the carriage so fast, and I saw her glaring at me from the front seat. That made me remember that I hadn't healed Ari's head. So when we got out, the first thing I did was sit her down and work my magic.

"Hold still. If I don't get this right I could hurt you more that you already are." I said to her.

"Yes well I didn't exactly rest it last night so it hurts like hell." Ari complained. I hit her on the arm for moving again, and then I started to heal her.

"Hilex" I whispered, closing my eyes, and making my right hand glow a light shade of blue. I could feel Ryner's eyes fill with worry about the spell I just used, but when I opened my eyes again they were perfectly normal. When I looked over at him he seem to calm down a little. Then I went back to Ari's head using the light in my hand to A) find where the hit was, and B) heal it when I did find it. It was worse than I thought it was at first though. Knowing that I put my hand in the center of the blow, turning the light in my hand blood red, and that's when Ryner really started to feel worried about me. I closed my eyes again so I could focus on what I was doing, rather than everything else that was going on around me.

My mind was clear, and I thought about what I had to do. The light in my hand turned a deeper shade of red I didn't have to have my eyes open to see that one. I could feel the wound on Ari's head, and I focused on closing it. It was a slow process but it was working. I had to fight off what I knew was coming about ten seconds after I started to heal my best friends head, and that didn't help the time it took me to fix her head. Finally after what felt like a whole day did the wound actually heal and close up like it was supposed to.

"Seaira are you ok." Ari asked me with my eyes still closed. Very, very slowly did I open my eyes, and when blood red wasn't the only color that I could see I opened them all the way. First I looked at Ryner giving him the ok to breath, then I looked at Ari.

"Yes I'm fine Ari." I said standing. I brushed off my dress and looked at her. "How does your head feel?" I asked her.

"Fine. Now are you sure that you're alright?" Ari was looking at me. I nodded, but she still looked unconvinced.

"Trust me she's fine Ari, why don't you get some food ready." Ryner said walking over to me. Ari walked away from us with a look from Ryner, who then looked right into my eyes. "That was too close. I thought you weren't going to take those kinds of risks anymore."

"I wasn't going to let her get worse. I had to do something and I had to do it fast." There was something in my voice…something that I knew all too well.

"It was too risky. I know you can hear it too." Ryner said. I was shocked that he knew what it was too. Bloodlust. That was the sound in my voice, and it meant bad things most of the time, but now it was just a bit worse. I breathed trying to calm myself down. I shook out my hands closing my eyes yet again. And again I had to ignore everything else in my head. I felt Ryner hug me, and just for a brief second red flashed. I wrapped my arms around him holding in the tears.

"Just be more careful. Now let's go eat." Ryner said letting go of me. I nodded before I walked over to the others. Ari was looking at me with worry in her eyes, and Ferris had the look of hate in her eyes. _Ah. So it seems that the young sword master returns Ryner's feelings for her does she. I wonder if they're ever going to tell one another. Guess I'll just have to wait and see won't I? _I thought to myself smiling inside. There was nothing that I wanted more than to see Ryner happy, but that was going to have to wait for a while.

So for now I did the only thing I could while I was eating yet another meal made by Ari, I listened. Not the kind of listening that you might think, but something that was more close to mind reading. It was a spell that I picked up on when I was very young called Raya, and it's also how I know most things about people. After listening to the thoughts of my new "friend" for about a minute I could tell that she really did like him.

"What did you do to my head? It feels so strange." Ari said to me. I laughed at little at her. She glared at me, and then started to clean up. The meal was very good as always, but we made a mess eating it. I looked down at my dress getting up, noticing that it was rather torn up. _Ah well. I can fix it later. Right now I just need to have my mind focused on what I'm going to ware at the dance tonight. So many choices, and then I have to find someone to go with me. I still can't believe that they won't just let us go by ourselves. There is nothing wrong with not having a date. And I'm sure that I will stand out in my black and red dresses, but I won't wear anything else. O don't have anything else to wear. Nothing anyone can do to change that, and if someone does they would be truly sorry. I can't keep thinking about this, because if I do people are going to notice. _

I was brought out of my train of thought by Ryner taping my shoulder. He looked at me, and I smiled. Then I noticed that the look he was giving me was one of confusion. I shrugged at him, and he nodded then walked back over to the carriage. There was nothing better than him trying to figure out what I was thinking about, because he always ends up hurting himself. It's quiet funny to watch actually. Normally he would be quite for a while then he would have a look of thinking every time that he looked at me, and last but not least he would get very angry with himself and start yelling at everyone. It happened when we were kids all the time, and then he found out that it wasn't a good idea, so he stopped.

Again I found myself in the carriage, riding the bumpy roads, waiting for us to arrive at the gala, but when we did I wasn't ready for who was going to be there. So many people had come to this event, many of whom I didn't think would come. Princess Noah was there, along with some of her men. The taboo braker squadron was there and others that I didn't know.

I looked around at the gowns that the ladies were wearing. All of them amazing colors, different every last one. So many different colors and I was the only one who was in red and black. _But it's not like it's my fault. I can't help it if all of my dresses are red and black. Plus they really are the only two colors that look good on me, so I really have nothing to worry about._

"What are you thinking about?" Ryner asked me. _So know he just asks. Finally! _

"Nothing, just all the people that are going to be here. All of them are going to be wondering why I'm here. I mean I'm not a real countess, it's just a title." I told him.

"Nothing you can do to change that. Who all is going to be there?" Ferris asked. I noticed that she had been rather quiet on the ride here, and now she was talking_. I wonder why. Is it because I'm talking to Ryner? Yes she is sooo in love with him._

"Important people. People who have high rankings, and need something to do. Other fight in the war of course." I told her. All that I wanted right now was to be able to meet up with the people had to, stay out of sight until Sion arrives, and then (if I have to) kill the bastard. Before he kills the whole of this world.


End file.
